Printing head module

ABSTRACT

A printing head module including a body, a feeding roller assembly and a feeding sensor is provided. The body includes a material-supplying channel and a nozzle connected to the material-supplying channel. The feeding roller assembly is disposed at the material-supplying channel to transmit the modeling material to the nozzle. The feeding sensor is disposed at the feeding roller assembly to detect whether the feeding roller assembly rotates. The feeding sensor is coupled to a control unit, such that the control unit generates a notice according to a detection result of the feeding sensor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of and claims thepriority benefit of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/203,590, filed on Mar.11, 2014, now allowed, which claims the priority benefit of Taiwanapplication serial no. 102146225, filed on Dec. 13, 2013. The entiretyof each of the above-mentioned patent applications are herebyincorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The technical field relates to a printing head module, and moreparticularly to a printing head module capable of sensing jam.

Description of Related Art

With advancement in computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), a threedimensional printing technology (3-D printing technology) has beendeveloped in the manufacturing industry, which can very quicklyfabricate a physical solid object based on an original concept design.The 3-D printing, in fact, is a general term of a series of rapidprototyping technologies (RP technologies) and the basic principlethereof, and the concept thereof is a laminate manufacturing, where anRP machine scans a prototype work piece along an X-Y plane to obtain across-section shape of the work piece. Meanwhile, the probeintermittently displaces in Z coordinate with a step of a slicethickness layer by layer so as to ultimately form the 3-D object. The3-D printing is unrestricted for the geometric shapes with theprototype, and the more complex the work piece is, the more excellencesthe RP technology shows so as to largely save the labor and the processtime. As a result, a digital 3-D model given by the computer-aideddesign (CAD) can be truthfully revealed under a shortest timerequirement, and the model is, not only palpable, but also truly feltfor its geometric curves. The user can trial the assembling performanceof the model, and even can do possible functional test thereof.

At present, most of the 3-D printing apparatuses that utilize theaforementioned RP method to form 3-D objects transport a hot melt wirematerial to a melting nozzle by a feed material mechanism, and then heatand melt the hot melt wire material through the melting nozzle to applythe hot melt wire material layer by layer on a base, thereby forming the3-D object. Generally, when the 3-D printing apparatus is feedingmaterials, the hot melt wire material is likely to get stuck betweenrollers of the feed material mechanism due to the size and propertydifferences between the mechanical structure and the hot melt wirematerial, causing the fed hot melt wire material to be jammed or leadingto the occurrence that the feed material mechanism idles when the hotmelt wire material is used up. The 3-D printing is interrupt when theabove situations take place, and the user has to disassemble the 3-Dprinting apparatus to check the inner part of the 3-D printing apparatusin order to know whether the hot melt wire material needs to besupplemented or there is a jammed material to be removed. Therefore, itis still inconvenient and takes a lot of time and labor when the current3-D printing apparatus needs a replacement or maintenance.

SUMMARY

One of exemplary embodiments provides a printing head module which maydetect a current material-supplying status and generate a correspondingnotice.

In one of exemplary embodiments, the printing head module includes abody, a feeding roller assembly and a feeding sensor. The body includesa material-supplying channel and a nozzle connected to thematerial-supplying channel. The feeding roller assembly is disposed atthe material-supplying channel to transmit a modeling material to thenozzle. The feeding sensor is disposed beside the feeding rollerassembly for detecting whether the feeding roller assembly rotates. Thefeeding sensor is coupled to a control unit, such that the control unitgenerates a corresponding notice according to a detecting result of thefeeding sensor.

In one of exemplary embodiments, the printing head module includes abody, a feeding roller assembly, a modeling material sensor, and afeeding sensor. The body includes a material-supplying channel and anozzle. The material-supplying channel is connected to the nozzle. Thefeeding roller assembly is disposed at the material-supplying channel totransmit the modeling material to the nozzle. The modeling materialsensor is disposed on a transmitting path of the modeling material todetect whether the modeling material passes through. The feeding sensoris disposed at the feeding roller assembly to detect whether the feedingroller assembly rotates. The modeling material sensor and the feedingsensor are coupled to a control unit. The control unit generates acorresponding notice according to a detecting result of the modelingmaterial sensor and the feeding sensor.

Based on the above, the modeling material sensor is disposed on thetransmitting path of the modeling material to detect whether themodeling material passes through a sensing area of the modeling materialsensor, and the feeding sensor is disposed at the feeding rollerassembly to detect whether the feeding roller assembly rotates.Accordingly, the control unit coupled to the modeling material sensorand the feeding sensor determines the current material supplying statusof the 3-D printing apparatus based on the detecting result of themodeling material sensor and the feeding sensor and generates acorresponding notice accordingly. Therefore, a user may easily knowwhether the 3-D printing apparatus currently needs a replacement of themodeling material or a removal of jam without disassembling the 3-Dprinting apparatus, which improves convenience in replacement andmaintenance for the 3-D printing apparatus and further saves the timefor the replacement and maintenance.

In order to make the aforementioned features and advantages of thedisclosure more comprehensible, embodiments accompanying figures aredescribed in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a 3-D printing apparatusaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block view illustrating an in-use context of a 3-Dprinting apparatus according to exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block view illustrating a 3-D printing apparatusaccording to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view illustrating a printing head module accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The above-mentioned or other relevant technical principles and thefeatures and effects thereof are clearly presented together with theaccompanying drawings in the following depicted embodiments. Note thatsome of expression words hereinafter regarding direction or orientation,such as ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘front’, ‘behind’, ‘left’, ‘right’, and the like,are directions for references in the attached drawings which are todescribe, not to limit, the present embodiment. In addition, in thefollowing embodiments, a same notation or a similar notation is formarking the same or the similar portion.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a 3-D printing apparatusaccording to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic block viewillustrating an in-use context of a 3-D printing apparatus according toan exemplary embodiment. Please refer to both FIGS. 1 and 2. In theembodiment, a printing head module 120 is applicable for a 3-D printingapparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, wherein the 3-D printingapparatus 100 is capable of printing a 3-D object 10 according to adigital 3-D model information. The 3-D printing apparatus 100 mayinclude a base 110, a printing head module 120, and a control unit 130.In the embodiment, the control unit 130 is configured to read thedigital 3-D model information, wherein the digital 3-D model informationmay be a digital 3-D image file which is, for example, built by acomputer host 200 through computer-aided design (CAD) or animationmodeling software.

Based on the above, the base 110 of the 3-D printing apparatus 100 has acarrying surface 112 as shown in FIG. 1 for carrying a modeling materialprovided by the printing head module 120. The printing head module 120is movably disposed above the base 110 and configured to slide back andforth along a slide rail 150. The base 110 may, for example, move inparallel with and relative to the printing head module 120. The controlunit 130 coupled to the printing head module 120 is configured to readand process the digital 3-D model information. Accordingly, the controlunit 130 controls the printing head module 120 to move along the sliderail 150 according to the digital 3-D model information, and theprinting head module 120 may dispense the modeling material on thecarrying surface 112 layer by layer to form a plurality of modelingmaterial layers when moving. The modeling material layers are stackedonto one another to form the 3-D object 10.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block view illustrating a 3-D printing apparatusaccording to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 4 is a sectional viewillustrating a printing head module according to an exemplaryembodiment. Specifically, referring to both FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, theprinting head module 120 includes a body 122, a feeding roller assembly124, and a feeding sensor 128. The body 122 includes amaterial-supplying channel 122 a and a nozzle 122 b, wherein thematerial-supplying channel 122 a is connected to the nozzle 122 b.Precisely, the material-supplying channel 122 a and the nozzle 122 bcorrespond to each other to form a material-supplying path L1. Thefeeding roller assembly 124 is disposed between the material-supplyingchannel 122 a and the nozzle 122 b to transmit a modeling material 20 tothe nozzle 122 b. The feeding sensor 128 is disposed beside the feedingroller assembly 124.

In the embodiment, the modeling material 20 may be various materialssuitable for manufacturing methods such as stereolithography, a fusedfilament fabrication (FFF), melted and extrusion modeling, electron beammodeling and so on. For example, the modeling material 20 may be a hotmelt filament suitable for manufacturing method of FFF, and the modelingmaterial 20 is heated via, for example, the nozzle 122 b of the printinghead module 120 such that the modeling material 20 transmitted to thenozzle 122 b is molten into fluid material in a molten status. Then, themolten modeling material is extruded out by the nozzle 122 b anddispensed on the carrying surface 112 layer by layer to form a pluralityof laminated modeling material layers, which are then, for example,cured or dried to form the 3-D object 10.

In the embodiment, the feeding sensor 128 is disposed at the feedingroller assembly 124 to detect whether the feeding roller assembly 124rotates. Specifically, the feeding roller assembly 124 may include anactive roller 124 a and a passive roller 124 b, which are respectivelydisposed at two opposite sides of the material-supplying path L1. Theactive roller 124 a may be, for example, coupled to a motor which drivesthe active roller 124 a to rotate, and then the active roller drives thepassive roller 124 b to rotate, such that the active roller and thepassive roller 124 b hold the modeling material 20 together to transmitthe modeling material 20 to move along the material-supplying path L1.The feeding sensor 128 may be, for example, disposed at the passiveroller 124 b to detect whether the passive roller 124 b rotates. In theembodiment, the feeding sensor 128 may be a rotation sensor, an inertialsensor, a magneto-inductive sensor, or a gyroscope, etc. It should benoted that persons having ordinary skill in the art should be aware ofthat there are various types of sensors; therefore, a designer may adoptvarious sensors as the modeling material sensor 126 and the feedingsensor 128 based on the requirement of design. In other words, theexemplary embodiment is not limited to the above possibleimplementations.

With such configuration, the feeding roller assembly 124 and the feedingsensor 128 are coupled to, for example, a control unit 130 of the 3-Dprinting apparatus 100, which enables the control unit 130 to drive thefeeding roller assembly 124 to rotate so as to transmit the modelingmaterial 20 from the material-supplying channel 122 a to the nozzle 122b along the material-supplying path L1, such that the modeling material20 is extruded via the nozzle 122 b to form the 3-D object 10, andenables the control unit 130 to generate a corresponding noticeaccording to the detecting result of the feeding sensor 128. Forexample, if the feeding sensor 128 detects that the feeding rollerassembly 124 is rotating, it means that the feeding roller assembly 124is rotating to transmit the modeling material; that is, the printinghead module 120 is in a normal material-supplying status. At the time,the control unit 130 generates a notice indicating “material in normalsupply” accordingly.

In addition, if the feeding sensor 128 detects that the feeding rollerassembly 124 does not rotate, it means that the feeding roller assembly124 does not rotate; that is, the feeding roller assembly 124 may bejammed; at the time, the control unit 130 may generate a noticeindicating “material jammed” accordingly.

Moreover, in the embodiment, the active roller 124 a or the passiveroller 124 b of the feeding roller assembly 124 may be a color wheel.The feeding sensor 128 detects whether the feeding roller assembly 124rotates according to the sensed change of color. For instance, theactive roller 124 a or the passive roller 124 b of the feeding rollerassembly 124 may be a color wheel, which may be a black-and-whiterolling wheel and the colors thereof are alternately arranged around 360degrees as the passive roller 124 b shown in FIG. 4. Accordingly, whenthe feeding roller assembly 124 rotates at a certain distance, the color(black or white) of the passive roller 124 b detected by the feedingsensor 128 changes, and the feeding sensor 128 sends a signal to thecontrol unit every time when the detected color (black or white) of thepassive roller 124 b changes. The control unit adds up the number oftimes that the feeding sensor 128 sends the signal to obtain thedistance of the feeding roller assembly 124 has rotated accordingly.Moreover, the control unit acquires the number of the times that thefeeding sensor 128 has sent the signal when the modeling material is fedin a certain length. Thereby, if the number of times of the feedingsensor 128 sending the signal is zero, it may suggest the occurrence ofjamming; if the number of times of the feeding sensor 128 sending thesignal is greater than zero, it means that the material supply iscurrently in a normal status. Certainly, in other embodiments, theactive roller 124 a may be the color wheel, and the feeding sensor 128is disposed corresponding to the active roller 124 a to detect whetherthe active roller 124 a rotates.

In other embodiments, the printing head module 120 may further include amodeling material sensor 126. In the embodiment, the printing headmodule 120 transmits the modeling material 20 in the material-supplyingchannel 122 a to the nozzle 122 b along the material-supplying path L1via the rotation of the feeding roller assembly 124. The modelingmaterial sensor 126 is disposed next to the material-supplying path L1to detect whether the modeling material 20 passes through. In theembodiment, the modeling material sensor 126 may be, for example, aphoto sensor which determines whether the modeling material 20 passesthrough the sensing area of the modeling material sensor 126 based onwhether a light beam is blocked or not. More specifically, the modelingmaterial sensor 126 may be located right above the feeding rollerassembly 124 to detect whether the modeling material 20 is transmittedto the feeding roller assembly 124. The feeding sensor 128 is disposedat the feeding roller assembly 124 to detect whether the feeding rollerassembly 124 rotates. Precisely, the feeding roller assembly 124 mayinclude an active roller 124 a and a passive roller 124 b, which arerespectively disposed at two opposite sides of the material-supplyingpath L1. The active roller 124 a may be, for example, coupled to a motorwhich drives the active roller 124 a to rotate, and then the activeroller drives the passive roller 124 b to rotate such that the activeroller and the passive roller 124 b hold the modeling material 20together to transmit he modeling material 20 to move along thematerial-supplying path L1.

Based on the above, the feeding sensor 128 may be, for example, disposedat the passive roller 124 b to detect whether the passive roller 124 brotates. In the embodiment, the feeding sensor 128 may be a rotationsensor, an inertial sensor, a magneto-inductive sensor, a gyroscope,etc. It should be noted that persons having ordinary skill in the artshould be aware of that there are various types of sensors; therefore, adesigner may adopt a various sensors as the modeling material sensor 126and the feeding sensor 128 based on the requirement of design. In otherwords, the exemplary embodiment is not limited to the above possibleimplementations.

With such configuration, the control unit 130 is coupled to the modelingmaterial 126 and the feeding sensor 128 to generate a correspondingnotice according to the detecting result of the modeling material sensor126 and the feeding sensor 128. For example, if the modeling materialsensor 126 detects that the modeling material 20 passes through, and thefeeding sensor 128 detects that the feeding roller assembly 124 isrotating, it means that the modeling material 20 has arrived and thefeeding roller assembly 124 is rotating to transmit the modelingmaterial; that is, the 3-D printing apparatus 100 is in a normalmaterial-supplying status; at the time, the control unit 130 maygenerate a notice indicating “material in normal supply” accordingly.

In addition, if the modeling material sensor 126 detects that themodeling material 20 passes through, and the feeding sensor 128 detectsthat the feeding roller assembly 124 is not rotating, it means that themodeling material 20 has arrived at the feeding roller assembly 124 butthe feeding roller assembly 124 is not rotating; that is, the feedingroller assembly 124 may be jammed; at the time, the control unit maygenerate a notice indicating “material jammed” accordingly.

Moreover, if the modeling material sensor 126 detects that the modelingmaterial 20 does not pass through the sensing area of the modelingmaterial sensor 126, and the feeding sensor 128 detects that the feedingroller assembly 124 is rotating, it means that the modeling material 20is running out; that is, the modeling material needs to be replaced assoon as possible;. At the time, the control unit may generate a noticeindicating “insufficient supply of material” and control the feedingroller assembly 124 to stop rotating.

Meanwhile, if the modeling material sensor 126 detects that the modelingmaterial 20 does not pass through the sensing area of the modelingmaterial sensor 126, and the feeding sensor 128 also detects that thefeeding roller assembly 124 is not rotating, it means that the modelingmaterial 20 is used up; that is, the modeling material needs to bereplaced. At the time, the control unit may generate a notice indicating“out of material” accordingly.

In addition, in the embodiment, the active roller 124 a or the passiveroller 124 b of the feeding roller assembly 124 may be a color wheel.The feeding sensor 128 detects whether the feeding roller assembly 124rotates according to the sensed change of color. For example, the activeroller 124 a or the passive roller 124 b of the feeding roller assembly124 may be a color wheel, which may be a black-and-white rolling wheeland the colors thereof are alternately arranged around 360 degrees asthe passive roller 124 b shown in FIG. 4. Accordingly, when the feedingroller assembly 124 rotates at a certain distance, the color (black orwhite) of the passive roller 124 b detected by the feeding sensor 128changes, and the feeding sensor 128 sends a signal to the control unitevery time when the detected color (black or white) of the passiveroller 124 b changes. The control unit adds up the number of times thatthe feeding sensor 128 sends the signal to obtain the distance of thefeeding roller assembly 124 has rotated accordingly. Moreover, thecontrol unit acquires the number of the times that the feeding sensor128 has sent the signal when the modeling material is fed in a certainlength. Thereby, if the number of times of the feeding sensor 128sending the signal is zero, it may suggest the occurrence of jamming; ifthe number of times of the feeding sensor 128 sending the signal isgreater than zero, it means that the material supply is currently in anormal status. Certainly, in other embodiments, the active roller 124 amay be the color wheel, and the feeding sensor 128 is disposedcorresponding to the active roller 124 a to detect whether the activeroller 124 a rotates.

In the embodiment, the notice may be a notification sound. That is tosay, the control unit 130 may generate corresponding and variousnotification sounds according to the detecting result of the modelingmaterial sensor 126 and the feeding sensor 128 to notify the user thecurrent material-supply status of the 3-D printing apparatus 100.Alternatively, the 3-D printing device 100 may include a plurality ofnotification lights so that the control unit 130 may light up acorresponding notification light according to the detecting result ofthe modeling material sensor 126 and the feeding sensor 128.Furthermore, in another embodiment, the 3-D printing apparatus 100 mayfurther include a display panel 140 as shown in FIG. 3, and the noticemay be a notification image. The display panel may display thenotification image for a user to check the current material-supplyingstatus of the 3-D printing apparatus 100. Certainly, persons havingordinary skill in the art should be aware of that the notice may bepresented in many ways; therefore, designers may make modification oradjustment at their own discretion according to actual products. Inother words, the exemplary embodiment is not limited to the abovepossible implementations.

In summary, in the exemplary embodiment of the 3-D printing apparatusand the printing head module thereof, the modeling material sensor isdisposed on the transmitting path of the modeling material to detectwhether the modeling material passes through the sensing area of themodeling material sensor, and the feeding sensor is disposed at thefeeding roller assembly to detect whether the feeding roller assembly isrotating. Accordingly, the control unit coupled to the modeling materialsensor and the feeding sensor may determine the currentmaterial-supplying status of the 3-D printing apparatus according to thedetecting result of the modeling material sensor and the feeding sensorto generate a corresponding notice. Therefore, the user may easily knowwhether the 3-D printing apparatus currently needs a replacement of themodeling material or a removal of jam without disassembling the 3-Dprinting apparatus, which improves convenience in replacement andmaintenance for the 3-D printing apparatus and further saves the timerequired for the replacement and maintenance.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the structure of thedisclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of thedisclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the disclosurecover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fallwithin the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A printing head module, capable of dispensing amodeling material layer by layer to form a three-dimensional (3-D)object, the printing head module comprising: a body, comprising amaterial-supplying channel and a nozzle, the material-supplying channelcorresponding to the nozzle and forming a material-supplying path withthe nozzle; a feeding assembly, disposed between the material-supplyingchannel and the nozzle, the feeding assembly comprising an active rollerand a passive feeding member respectively disposed at two opposite sidesof the material-supplying path; a feeding sensor, disposed at thefeeding assembly to directly detect whether the passive feeding memberis operating; and a control unit, coupled to the feeding assembly andthe feeding sensor to drive the active roller to transmit the modelingmaterial from the material-supplying channel to the nozzle along thematerial-supplying path when the passive feeding member is operating,and the control unit generating a notice according to a detecting resultof the feeding sensor.
 2. The printing head module as claimed in claim1, wherein the control unit generates a “material jammed” notice whenthe feeding sensor detects that the feeding assembly does not rotate. 3.The printing head module as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control unitgenerates a “material in normal supply” notice when the feeding sensordetects that the feeding assembly rotates.
 4. The printing head moduleas claimed in claim 1, wherein the passive feeding member comprises apassive roller, and the active roller is controlled by the control unitto drive the passive roller to rotate, so as to transmit the modelingmaterial along the material-supplying path.
 5. The printing head moduleas claimed in claim 1, wherein the feeding sensor disposed at thefeeding assembly directly detects whether the passive feeding membermoves.
 6. The printing head module as claimed in claim 1, wherein thefeeding sensor comprises a rotation sensor.
 7. The printing head moduleas claimed in claim 1, wherein the notice comprises a notificationsound.
 8. The printing head module as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a display panel, the notice comprising a notification image,the display panel displaying the notification image.
 9. The printinghead module according to claim 1, wherein the passive roller comprises acolored wheel having multiple colors alternately arranged, and thefeeding sensor determines whether the passive roller rotates accordingto whether the color detected by the feeding sensor detects change ofcolors.
 10. A printing head module, forming a modeling material into athree-dimensional (3-D) object, comprising: a body, comprising amaterial-supplying channel and a nozzle, the material-supplying channelcorresponding to the nozzle and forming a material-supplying path withthe nozzle; a feeding assembly, disposed between the material-supplyingchannel and the nozzle, the feeding assembly comprising an active rollerand a passive feeding member respectively disposed at two opposite sidesof the material-supplying path; a feeding sensor, disposed at thefeeding assembly to directly detect whether the passive feeding memberis operating; a modeling material sensor, disposed beside thematerial-supplying path to detect whether the modeling material passesthrough; and a control unit, coupled to the feeding assembly, thefeeding sensor, and the modeling material sensor to drive the activeroller to transmit the modeling material from the material-supplyingchannel to the nozzle along the material-supplying path when the passivefeeding member is operating, and the modeling material extruded out fromthe nozzle to form the 3-D object, and the control unit generating acorresponding notice according to a detecting result of the modelingmaterial sensor and detecting result of the feeding sensor.
 11. Theprinting head module as claimed in claim 10, wherein the passive feedingmember comprises a passive roller, and the active roller is controlledby the control unit to drive the passive roller to rotate, so as totransmit the modeling material along the material-supplying path. 12.The printing head module as claimed in claim 11, wherein when themodeling material sensor detects that the modeling material passesthrough, and the feeding sensor detects that the passive roller does notrotate, the control unit generates a “material jammed” noticeaccordingly.
 13. The printing head module as claimed in claim 11,wherein when the modeling material sensor detects that the modelingmaterial does not pass through, and the feeding sensor detects that thepassive roller is rotating, the control unit generates an “insufficientsupply of material” notice.
 14. The printing head module as claimed inclaim 11, wherein when the modeling material sensor detects that themodeling material does not pass through, and the feeding sensor detectsthat the passive roller does not rotate, the control unit generates a“out of material” notice.
 15. The printing head module as claimed inclaim 11, wherein when the modeling material sensor detects that themodeling material passes through, and the feeding sensor detects thatthe-passive roller is rotating, the control unit generates a “materialin normal supply” notice.
 16. The printing head module as claimed inclaim 10, wherein the modeling material sensor comprises a photo sensor.17. The printing head module according to claim 10, wherein the feedingsensor comprises a rotation sensor.
 18. The printing head moduleaccording to claim 10, wherein the feeding roller assembly comprises acolor wheel in multiple colors, and the feeding sensor detects whetherthe feeding roller assembly rotates according to a detected change ofcolors.
 19. The printing head module as claimed in claim 10, wherein thefeeding sensor disposed at the feeding assembly directly detects whetherthe passive feeding member moves.